This invention relates generally to sheet-pile wall assemblies. More particularly, this invention relates to sheet-pile clutches equipped with a waterproof seal resistant to scrapping of the seal during assembly or driving of the interlocking clutches when assembling the sheet-pile wall.
Sheet-pile walls are assembled from a plurality of steel profiles which are connected to one another by interlocking clutches. These interlocking clutches have a certain play in order to allow the clutches to slide, one inside the other, when assembling the sheet-pile wall. Because of this tolerance, sheet-pile clutches are waterproof only under certain conditions.
However, once the conditions of the job site require that the sheet-pile wall be waterproofed, either totally or as much as possible, additional waterproofing measures must be provided for the aforementioned clutches.
It has been attempted to render sheet-pile walls waterproof, as described in the published German Patent Application DE-OS-2,142,957, by injecting, on site and before the sheet piles are driven in, a compound into a clutch of the sheet piles, the compound being applied in the liquid state and solidifying in the form of a foam with an elastic consistency. Alternatively, it is possible to follow the granted and published German Patent Application DE-AS-2,722,978 in which a seal resistant to shearing is formed, in the clutch before it is inserted, by injecting an appropriate product into the clutch and by spreading this product evenly by means of a movable device, which, at the same time gives the product the desired shape. As these seals are very sensitive, the sheet piles can only be placed in position by being driven in by pile driving means but not by vibration means. In German Patent DE-PS-2,815,236-C2, a method is describedwhich can be used on site and which is performed as follows: before a sheet-pile element is driven in, a glue is introduced into the clutch which has not been engaged, the chamber of this part of the clutch is closed off with a calibrating element to protect the glue and to prevent earth from entering the clutch and, once the sheet pile has been driven in to the desired depth, the calibrating element is withdrawn after the driving in is completed.
In still another method in accordance with the published German Patent Application DE-OS-2,700,414, a seal is applied against one of the faces of the clutch on which it is expected that an excess pressure or other comparable force will act.
The above-mentioned methods have the major disadvantage that the seal in the end has very little resistance to shearing. When the sheet piles are placed in position, whether by being driven in or by vibration, the clutches rub against one another and the seals are destroyed, at least partially, by the seal being scraped away or other forms of damage.
It is obvious that there is a great need to provide sheet-pile clutches that are equipped with means to provide a seal that is resistant to being scraped away when the clutches are inserted into one another.